Great Regulars: To do that, it helps to spend a lot

of time being bored in front of a computer screen with nothing for company but a surly cat or a massive whiskey. And through the first few pages of "I Love a Broad Margin to My Life," it seems [Maxine Hong] Kingston has been doing exactly that. She begins with a meditation on aging and vanity that has a lovely, dry self-awareness. Here she is being photographed by a local publication:

I am often looking in mirrors, and singling
out my face in group photographs.
Am I pretty at 65?
What does old look like?
Sometimes I am wrinkled, sometimes not.
So much depends upon lighting.

from David Orr: The New York Times: Maxine Hong Kingston's Life in Verse

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